Scouring compositions such as particulate compositions or liquid (incl. gel, paste-type) compositions containing abrasive components are well known in the art. Such compositions are used for cleaning a variety of surfaces; especially those surfaces that tend to become soiled with difficult to remove stains and soils.
Amongst the currently known scouring compositions, the most popular ones are based on abrasive particles with shapes varying from spherical to irregular. The most common abrasive particles are either inorganic like carbonate salt, clay, silica, silicate, shale ash, perlite and quartz sand or organic polymeric beads like polypropylene, PVC, melamine, urea, polyacrylate and derivatives, and come in the form of liquid composition having a creamy consistency with the abrasive particles suspended therein.
The surface safety profile of such currently known scouring compositions is inadequate alternatively, poor cleaning performances is shown for compositions with an adequate surface safety profile. Indeed, due to the presence of very hard abrasive particles, these compositions can damage, i.e., scratch, the surfaces onto which they have been applied. Indeed, the formulator needs to choose between good cleaning performance but featuring strong surface damage or compromising on the cleaning performance while featuring acceptable surface safety profile. In addition, such currently known scouring compositions at least in certain fields of application (e.g., hard surface cleaning) are perceived by consumers as outdated.
Abrasive particles derived from natural feedstock such as nut shell e.g.: shell from walnut, almond etc. or derived from seed stone e.g.: from olive, apricot, cherry, peach, etc. in certain degree fulfill above requirements but they are in nature of somewhat dark color or have undesired brown colour. Furthermore, their inclusion in an cleaning product yield an unaesthetic muddy-like liquid composition, which is highly undesirable by consumer/users as it compromise the appearance of the liquid composition and its cleaning performance. Therefore, there is a need to identify an abrasive particle derived from natural sources that fulfill equally the performance and the aesthetic requirements for cleaning/cleaning liquid composition.
These undesired effects can be overcome by using coloured abrasive particles, especially when the abrasive particles are derived from natural feedstock e.g.: from nut shell, seed stone, wood or more generally derived from plant materials.
The coloured particles can be either toned to match the colour of the liquid cleaning composition, or have a different (or contrasting) colour from the liquid cleaning composition colour.
It is thus an objective of the present invention to provide a liquid cleaning composition suitable to clean a variety of surfaces, including inanimate surfaces, such as hard surfaces in and around the house, dish surfaces, etc., wherein the composition provides good cleaning performance, whilst providing a good surface safety profile. It is also another objective of the present invention to provide aesthetically acceptable cleaning composition comprising abrasive cleaning particles to improve cleaning performance.
It has been found that the above objectives can be met by the composition according to the present invention.
It is an advantage of the compositions according to the present invention that they may be used to clean inanimate surfaces made of a variety of materials like glazed and non-glazed ceramic tiles, enamel, stainless steel, Inox®, Formica®, vinyl, no-wax vinyl, linoleum, melamine, glass, plastics, painted surfaces and the like.
A further advantage of the present invention is that in the compositions herein, the particles can be formulated at very low levels, whilst still providing the above benefits. Indeed, in general for other technologies, high levels of abrasive particles are needed to reach good cleaning performance, thus leading to high formulation and process cost, difficult rinse and end cleaning profiles, as well as limitation for aesthetics and a pleasant hand feel of the cleaning composition.